Sudden Fear
by Tracy Diane Miller
Summary: Tough as nails detective Brigatti faces one of her greatest challenges: Fear


Sudden Fear  
  
Summary: This very short story is based on "Fatal Edition."  
  
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to whoever created them. No copyright infringement intended. No profit is being made.  
  
Author: Tracy Diane Miller E-mail address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com  
  
Sudden Fear  
  
She opened her eyes to darkness. The air in there seemed in such short supply that she took small, careful breaths. Her heart raced as sudden fear gripped her. She was crumpled inside a trunk of a car, but she felt as if she were being buried alive in a tomb or casket with the faint echoes of regret her only solace.  
  
Regret stabbed so forcefully at her chest right now that it almost seemed strong enough to dilute the fear. Almost.  
  
When Hobson came to her townhouse pleading with her to believe him and to help him, she had turned him a way. She had allowed her pledge as a police officer to protect the citizens of Chicago to blind her to the innocence that stared at her, projected through beautiful but frightened mud green eyes. She had fed on cynicism, feasted on disbelief, a meal that had sadly satisfied her ever since she became a police officer. Criminals always sang that song of innocence; it was only the refrain that changed. And she certainly couldn't allow her personal feelings for this man to corrupt her judgment.  
  
But was he a criminal? Was he a killer? Doubt strangled at her psyche.  
  
Yet, she allowed him to escape, to walk out of her townhouse. Watching the defeat etched on his face and characterizing his steps, she knew that she couldn't add to his indignity by turning him in. She tried rationalizing it in her mind. How could she say that she didn't believe him, refuse to help him, yet permit him to wander aimlessly on the cold and unforgiving streets a marked man?  
  
A night's sleep offered lucidity of mind and with the new day, she resolved to re-examine the evidence. She visited the medical examiner hoping to discover evidence that the police might have overlooked, evidence that possibly pointed to someone at the scene other than Hobson and Scanlon.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Then, she borrowed the medical examiner's notes. As she stood at the copier, the sound of Paul's sanctimonious voice boomed from behind her. His tone failed to mask his belief that he thought that she had traded her professional integrity for her personal feelings. The arrival of the report on the gun seemed to substantiate Paul's argument. The tests came out positive. Hobson's fired that gun, Paul charged.  
  
Then why had Hobson pleaded with her to test the gun? Why had he insisted that the gun proved his innocence if he knew that he had fired the weapon? Something wasn't right.  
  
That something glared at her unassumingly from the medical examiner's report. Later, she took her findings to Ari. How strange that Hobson's gloves had been checked out of the police evidence room and not returned until twenty-five minutes later when the evidence room was right down the hall. And the illegible signature on the form almost looked as if the person who signed the document was trying to conceal his identity. Ari blamed it on poor penmanship, but she felt a nagging sensation in her gut.  
  
Something wasn't right.  
  
Hobson had somehow been able to fax her information suggesting a murder for hire operation and a dirty cop and later, she discovered that the hard drive on Scanlon's computer had been wiped clean.  
  
If only she had listened earlier; if only Paul had listened earlier.  
  
She went to the medical examiner hoping that he could unravel the mystery. Instead, she found the evidence that eluded her earlier. Jake, the medical examiner, was embroiled in the murder for hire operation and he wasn't working alone. A shiver coursed through her body when she realized the identity of Jake's partner, the dirty cop.  
  
She had been attempting to confirm her suspicions with Paul when she felt a needle invade her veins and fluid course through her body. Soon, she was rendered unconscious.  
  
And awoke to darkness inside the trunk of a car.  
  
Her senses were a bit shaky as she heard footsteps approach the back of the car. She closed her eyes, feigning unconsciousness as the lid popped up. The angry voices she heard, that of Paul and Ari, mingled with the distant sounds of the train yard. She pulled herself out of the trunk.  
  
She saw Ari pointing a gun at Hobson who cowered on the ground like a frightened animal, cornered and preparing to die. She fired a warning shot then a few other shots in the direction of the renegade cop. Ari fled the scene with Hobson following in hot pursuit. A short while later, the cavalry arrived in the form of several police cars with their blaring sirens signaling that the nightmare was almost over.  
  
In the end, she had turned her sudden fear into sudden strength and in the process had helped to save several lives that night.  
  
The End. 


End file.
